EFFECTS OF DIGITAL GAME-BASED LEARNING ON ACHIEVEMENT, FLOW AND

OVERALL COGNITIVE LOAD

Summary:

It is exciting to see the game-based learning is used for the learning process. This journal
has turned the negative bias of game to one of recommended learning process in education field.
The purpose of this study was to examine differences in learning achievement, flow, and overall
cognitive load between digital game-based learning (DGBL) and traditional computer-based
learning (CBL).

I think this study shows that DGBL learners exhibit higher achievement and flow along
with lower cognitive load than the non-game-based CBL learners. Students with low cognitive
load or high flow show better learning achievement. This study supports instructors’ efforts to
integrate digital games into instruction in order to simultaneously eliminate learning pressure and
enhance learning achievement. As an added benefit, learners in the current study experience
immersion in a flow state generated from the learning experience. In other words, students are
able to concentrate better when learning and experience less stress from learning tasks, all
leading to enhanced learning achievement.

The overall features of the DGBL were examined in this study. It is suggested that rich
media features, for example, simulated scenarios, interests, interactions, learner control,
multimedia visualization, and 3D animations, be the focus of future research. Based on different
designs of learning material, differences in learning achievement, flow, and cognitive load, as
well as relationships among learning achievement, flow, and cognitive load could be further
examined. Different types of cognitive load could also be examined, including intrinsic,
extraneous, and germane cognitive loads rather than overall cognitive load alone. Additionally,
the challenge-skill balance in flow theory and expertise reversal effects on cognitive load theory
suggests that a
learner’s prior knowledge can affect flow and cognitive load. Hence, prior knowledge was
employed as a covariate variable in the current study. Cited from the part of the conclusion, it
states that it would be beneficial to educators and researchers in the field if some teaching
strategies or models for DGBL could be explored in future research.
“YOU HAVE TO TEACH TO YOUR PERSONALITY”: CARING, SHARING AND
TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY
Chris Shelton

Summary:

Being the teacher always requires the quality improvement as the era flies. Especially in
rapid technology development, the teacher has to adapt and implement to the teaching program.
Not only to improve the quality of teaching and knowledge, but the teacher is also required to
improve the personality.

Teachers in higher education express and perform their personality across different
aspects of their practice (with varying degrees of success) including their use of technology.
Several participants in this study described their teaching in terms of a performance, and
decisions about using technology were influenced by the extent to which the technology would
support their preferred teaching style and how it would be viewed by their audience of students.
A key aspect of this teaching performance was the extent to which individuals felt that they
could share their personality and care for students through using technology. While some
individuals believed that they could share their personality when teaching with technology,
others did not and this was an important factor in how satisfied they were about using
technology. Teachers who feel that technology might hamper the communication of their
personality or warmth will be reluctant to use technology, and this is often overlooked in the
literature on technology adoption. In addition, using technology could lead to teachers facing
challenges to their identity as teachers who care for their students. Social media, such as
Facebook, could challenge the boundaries between teachers’ home and work lives and prove an
uncomfortable experience for teachers.

Further research is needed to identify the different ways that teachers view their personal
style of teaching and to relate this to their context and the resources they use. There is also a need
for more research into the ways in which teachers share their personality and care for students
and into the consequences of teachers feeling unable to do this. Notwithstanding this, these
findings have implications for both the design and implementation of educational technology.
Designers of new educational innovations should be encouraged to consider how new
technologies and media can include features that support teachers to share their personality and
values when communicating with students and should try to avoid creating technologies that
only afford a distant voice. At the institutional level, those responsible for strategic decisions
about the introduction of new technologies should consider how any new technologies might
impact on relationships between students and teachers. They should endeavor to promote
technologies that are flexible enough to allow teachers to express their concern for students and
ensure that communication protocols encourage this. In particular, institutional or departmental
expectations for how technology is used must be flexible enough to allow teachers space to
reflect their own teaching style and personality. There should also be support and guidance
available to help teachers negotiate the increasingly blurred boundaries between personal and
professional lives. Finally, educational developers and trainers should support teachers in
developing the skills necessary to use technologies in ways that reflect their personality and
provide opportunities for teachers to share how they communicate their values and personality
through technology.
KEY FACTORS IN LEARNERS’ SATISFACTION
WITH THE E-LEARNING SYSTEM AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA
Joel S. Mtebe, Christina Raphae

Summary:

To examine the significant factors for learner satisfaction with the e-learning system at
UDSM (University of Daar Es Salam), this study used the updated D&M model (DeLone &
McLean, 2003). The model was modified by adding instructor quality and perceived usefulness
to suit the intended context. The proposed model consists of six factors: system quality, course
quality service quality, instructor quality, perceived usefulness, and learner satisfaction. All six
factors were subjected to linear regression analysis, which found that model variables
statistically significantly predicted learners’ satisfaction by 34.3% (R2= 0.343) of variance. The
findings also revealed that all other factors except course quality had a significant effect on
learners’ satisfaction with the e-learning system at UDSM. However, among the factors, it was
revealed that service quality is the strongest predictor of learners’ satisfaction, contributing
37.8% of variances, followed by system quality, which contributed to about 22% of variances.
Understanding this landscape is very useful for universities in sub-Saharan Africa and Tanzania
in particular to promote the use of e-learning systems and services for teaching and learning
processes. This study will help institutions in planning strategically to improve the factors that
seem to have a significant effect on learners’ satisfaction with e-learning systems to ensure
sustainability and continued use.
FACTORS RELATED TO COLLEGE STUDENTS’
SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING WITH TECHNOLOGY
Evren Sumuer

This study shows that SDL readiness, the use of Web 2.0 tools for learning, online
communication self-efficacy, and computer self-efficacy are factors that account for the limited
proportion of college students’ SDL with technology. SDL readiness and the use of Web 2.0
tools for learning were found to be significant factors that make a direct contribution to college
students’ SDL with technology. Despite their non-significant direct influence on SDL with
technology, online communication self-efficacy and computer self-efficacy have a significant
indirect influence through the mediating effect of Web 2.0 tools usage for learning. Based on the
findings, college students, instructors, or instructional designers could select and use resources
and strategies that make SDL with technology experiences more effective and efficient.
Moreover, technology-enhanced learning environments could be designed to provide college
students with improved opportunities for SDL. Therefore, this study argues that scaffolding or
assistance should be offered to college students in order to support their abilities for SDL, the use
of Web 2.0 tools for learning, online communication, and computers, whereby they could benefit
from ICT for SDL. Nevertheless, there is a need for further studies to investigate factors that
influence college students’ SDL with technology.
UNDERSTANDING HOW UNIVERSITY STUDENT
PERCEPTIONS OF RESOURCES AFFECT
TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE IN ONLINE
LEARNING COURSES
Stephen Anthony Sivo, Cheng-Hsin Ku, Parul Acharya

This paper introduced an overall reflective resource measurement of R in the TAM as a new
aspect of students’ beliefs into a higher education WebCT OLS and validated the influences
towards other existing beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behavior variables. The results indicate
that a small portion of U and EOU was explained within PRATAM, suggesting the existence of
external variables. Although Davis et al. (1989) suggested the influence of external variables in
the original TAM, a similar finding has been made in a WebCT environment by Pan (2003),
which found students’ EOU and U were influenced by extraneous variables such as computer
self-efficacy and subjective norms.